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Taekwon-Do Dublin TKD

 

Name:  Grandmaster Robert J. Howard

 

Taekwon-Do History

 

Grandmaster Howard (9th degree) is the highest ranking Taekwon-Do practitioner in Ireland. He was one of the first Irish men to achieve the rank of black belt in 1971, (the other two were Mr Liam Dandy and Mr Frank Mathews), and was one of the driving forces in the promotion of Taekwon-Do in Ireland. Through his instructor, First Grand Master Rhee Ki Ha, he has a direct lineage to the founder of Taekwon-Do, Gen Choi Hong Hi.  Indeed many of today’s students of Taekwon-Do in Ireland can trace their roots back to Gen Choi Hong Hi, via GM Rhee and Senior Master Howard.  He was the first Irish man to be promoted to Master (7th Degree).

Over his years of teaching Taekwon-Do, Senior Master Howard has trained thousands of students and produced hundreds of black belts (including Master and Senior Masters).  He has trained many international competitors and World Champions.  Many of his former students have become senior instructors in their own associations, e.g. INTA (Senior Master Brendan O’Toole, Master Val Douglas, Master Gerry Martin) and ITTIA (Senior Master Paul Kavanagh).

Since the early 70s he has been travelling the world training in Taekwon-Do and umpiring in European and World Championships.  He is very well respected both in Ireland and internationally and has many Taekwon-Do friends around the world.

Senior Master Howard is the chief instructor and president of the Republic of Ireland Taekwon-Do Association. He still trains and teaches in Cabra, Dublin, as well as teaching Taekwon-Do black belts and colour belts throughout Ireland.


Senior Master Howard’s Taekwon-Do History

To review Senior Master Howard's Taekwon-Do History, please click here.


 

Senior Master Howard's International Taekwon-Do Dan promotion details

 

Degree

Year

ITF Cert no.

Venue

Examiner

9th 2011 IRE-9-1 Pyongyang, North Korea
ITF Promotions Committee

8th

2002

IRE-8-1

Dublin

ITF Promotions Committee

7th

1995

IRE-7-1

Dublin

First Grand Master Rhee Ki Ha

6th

1990

IRE-6-1

Dublin

First Grand Master Rhee Ki Ha

5th

1984

IRL-84-5-01

Budapest (Hungary)

First GM Rhee, Park Jung Tae, Kim Suk Jung

4th

1979

B-4-2

Dublin

First Grand Master Rhee Ki Ha

3rd

1975

IRL-3-2

Glasgow (UK)

First GM Rhee, C. K. Choi

2nd

1973

B-2-1

Dublin

First GM Rhee, K.I. Kim

1st

1971

N/A

Oxford (UK)

First Grand Master Rhee Ki Ha

Note 1: N/A in the very early days of the ITF degree certificates weren’t issued.

Note 2: If you are an Irish ITF black belt your certificate number will start with IRE.  But in 1973 Mr Rhee was the chief instructor to Britain, and as his student Mr Howard’s 2nd degree cert started with ‘B’ for Britain (B-2-1).  You can also see that IRL was sometimes used to indicate Ireland. This has now been standardised to IRE.

IRE-8-1: The IRE means Ireland, the 8 means 8th degree, the 1 after the 8 means the first person in that country to be awarded this grade.

 

 

International Taekwon-Do Federation qualifications

 

  • International Umpire: ‘A’ Class, cert no., 189, year 1978
  • International Instructor (Examiner):   cert no., 239, year 1979

 

International Taekwon-Do Federation Awards Received

  • Outstanding Instructor Award: Presented at the World Championships, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, 1994

 

 

International Taekwon-Do Federation Courses and Seminars

 

Year

Course Type

Conducted by

Venue

8/4/2010

Senior Masters’ Technical Seminar

Senior Master Hwang Ho Yong

Bejing

January 2002

Masters’ Seminar

Gen Choi Hong Hi

Viena

25/10/99

157th ITF International Instructor’s Course

Gen Choi Hong Hi

Dublin

22/9/95

108th ITF International Instructor’s Course

Gen Choi Hong Hi

Dublin

9/10/92

41st ITF International Instructor’s Course

Gen Choi Hong Hi

Dublin

1987

International Seminar

Master Park Jung Tae

Dublin

1975

International Seminar

Master J. C. Kim

Glasgow

 

 

 

Experience at World, European and International Championships

 

Year

Tournament

Participated as

Country

1973

Ireland V Turkey

Competitor (Silver medal)

Dublin, Ireland

1974

Centennial Championships

Competitor

Winnapeg, Canada

1976

Ireland V England

Competitor (Gold medal)

Dublin, Ireland

1978

2nd World Championships

Competitor (2 Silver medals)

Oklahoma, USA

1980

2nd European Championships

Umpire

London, England

1981

3rd World Championships

Umpire

Resistencia, Chaco, Argentina

1984

4th World Championships

Umpire

Glasgow, Scotland

1984

4th European Championships

Umpire

Budapest, Hungary

1987

5th World Championships

Umpire

Athens, Greece

1988

6th World Championships

Umpire

Budapest, Hungary

1990

7th World Championships

Umpire

Montreal, Canada

1993

8th European Championships

Umpire

Groningen, The Netherlands

1993

3rd Junior European Championships

Umpire

Benidorm, Spain

1994

9th World Championships

Umpire

Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia

2001

12th World Championships

VIP

Rimmini, Italy

2003

13th World Championships

VIP

Thessaloniki, Greece

2004

Senior & 3rd Junior European Championships

VIP

Sofia, Bulgaria

2005

19th Senior & 11th Junior European Championships

VIP

Dublin, Ireland

2008

22nd Senior & 14th Junior European Championships

VIP

Porec, Croatia

2009

16th World Championships

VIP

St Petersburg, Russia

 

Participation at ITF and AETF/EITF Congresses

Year

Congress

Participated as

Country

1980

AETF, Congress

NGB Delegate

London, England

1984

ITF, Congress

NGB Delegate

Glasgow, Scotland

1984

AETF, Congress

NGB Delegate

Budapest, Hungary

1987

ITF, Congress

NGB Delegate

Athens, Greece

1988

ITF, Congress

NGB Delegate

Budapest, Hungary

1990

ITF, Congress

NGB Delegate

Montreal, Canada

1993

AETF, Congress

NGB Delegate

Groningen, The Netherlands

1993

AETF, Congress

NGB Delegate

Benidorm, Spain

1994

ITF, Congress

NGB Delegate

Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia

2001

ITF, Congress

NGB Delegate

Rimmini, Italy

2002

ITF, Emergency Congress

NGB Delegate

Vienna, Austria

2002

ITF, Congress

NGB Delegate

Pyongyang, DPR Korea

2003

ITF, Congress

NGB Delegate

Thessaloniki, Greece

2004

AETF, Congress

NGB Delegate

Sofia, Bulgaria

2005

AETF, Congress

NGB Delegate

Dublin, Ireland

2008

EITF, Congress

NGB Delegate

Porec, Croatia

2009

ITF, Congress

NGB Delegate

St Petersburg, Russia

2011

EITF, Congress

NGB Delegate

Tallin, Estonia

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